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Published: April 11th 2007
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Our Outside Cabin
Loved the cubby area by the window- made a great window seat! So this entry is a little fuzzy since I have to remember back 3 years ago, but here is what I remember:
John and I boarded the Carnival Paradise for a 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruise in Miami. We arrived on Friday, the day before the cruise departed. After checking in at the Radisson for our one night stay (a steal on Priceline but not exactly in the best part of town), we headed down to the marketplace for dinner. We ate by the marina and enjoyed the sunset views and watched several cruise ships arrive across the bay at the port.
Embarkation We arrived at the pier and quickly went through processing and were on board in less than 20 minutes (much speedier than my past cruise). Our room was not ready so we headed to the buffet for some lunch and walked around the ship to get acquainted. I really loved the fact that the Paradise was a non-smoking ship and we did not have to worry about wandering into the casino and having to gasp for air!
Our Room We were pleasantly suprised when we finally got to our room and saw that we
Nassau Port
The port at Nassau has you march through their shops on the way off of the ship had been upgraded to an aft window view cabin (I had booked an inside guarantee). We later learned that these rooms can be noisy (sounded like we were right under the engine), but I loved the little cubby window and enjoyed curling up in the window and watching as we sailed away! The room was not huge, but bearable for 2 people with decent storage. We did not spend much time in the room so we weren't too concerned.
The Ship The ship definitely showed her age and some of the decor screamed 80's. However, the crew did a decent job keeping everything clean and the brass shiny. The ship was small so it never felt like we had to walk far to get to important places. My only "complaint" about the layout was that you had to go outside on the deck in order to access the buffet. This was difficult some evenings when it was extremely cold and windy.
Food We were impressed with the quality of the food in the buffet area. I discovered my love for bread pudding during this cruise. The pizza and burgers were actually pretty tasty. The entrees changed each day
Blue Lagoon
The water was beautiful but very crowded. and were decent for a snack. The dining room food was also impressive. John is a picky eater and he was able to find something he liked each night. We loved our tablemates and actually ate every dinner in the dining room. I am dessert person and was thrilled when our waiter "encouraged" me to try everything on the menu (made me feel like less of a pig). Our waiter (Ginn) was attentive although sometimes we had a language barrier breakdown with the assistant waiter.
Entertainment We went to one "broadway" type production show. While I admire the dancer's ability to keep their balance when the ship was clearly rocking (the curtains were swaying), the production of the shows was kind of cheesy. Perhaps if we had a few more drinks in us, it would have been better, but the cruise director's jokes were very tired and the dancers' costumes looked worn.
Ports of Call Nassau, Bahamas We chose the Blue Lagoon excursion through the ship. After a really long boat ride, we were deposited on a pretty little island with clear blue water and a variety of ocean activities. There were palm trees with hammocks and walking
Speed Boat in DR
This was the speed boat we rode on in the Dominican Republic paths with little statues. There was also a Dolphin Encounter for a separate fee. The beach was nice, but we were honestly pretty bored and fried after a couple of hours. Pretty location, but got very crowded when 2 more cruise ships pulled up.
Caso de Campo, Dominican Republic This was our favorite excursion. We were taken by speed boat first to a sand bar where our local guide passed our rum punch. We took a quick swim in the clearest water I have ever seen- not really any fish around but absolutely gorgeous (he mentioned something about movies being filmed here). Next, we went to a local beach park where we lazed in the sun and enjoyed more swimming. We had a filling BBQ lunch and visited a few huts where local women were selling their wares. The excursion ended with an hour long catamaran sail back to the port. One thing John and I noticed is that you really have to book an excursion through the cruise line in this port. Unlike other ports, there aren't really any local vendors at the port and most don't speak english.
St. Thomas After doing research on the web,
Beach in DR
The beach had hammocks and chairs with thatch roof umbrellas I decided to go with a private excursion with Godfrey Tours http://godfreytoursvi.com/. Godfrey picked us up at the port and took us all over the island with stops at Sir Francis Drake's seat atop Magen's Bay, Bluebeard's Castle, driving through rich and poor neighborhoods, by Sapphire Beach. We sampled a banana daquiri at the top of the mountain (the twisting roads to the top were thrilling). We ended up at Coki Beach which is absolutely gorgeous but offers no shade at all and is packed with vendors hassling you.
Godfrey picked us up from the beach and dropped us off at the shopping center where we wandered around and explored the jewelry stores. Overall, we had high expectations for St. Thomas but felt it was way too crowded (6 ships in port) and had too many vendors haggling for your attention
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